Monday, April 12, 2010

Pop-Up city

I love this concept. I love this group. And Terry Schwarz, the urban planner that started it here in Cleveland, has my dream professional job. Obviously a real dream job would have nothing to do with being a professional, it would be a lifestyle of hedonism and excess. (Though it runs counter to the goals of sustainability, I find the life of a rock star appealing).

Speaking of what's appealing, urban design seems inherently appealing to a student/professional of sustainability...as any "smart design(er)" finds it uber trendy to be as minimalistic as possible. Less stuff used; stuff used smarter;stuff with more than one function.

I just had to put some spot light on this group and show you what they do. They also have a great Facebook page with upates on current projects. Please please please look at it. Cities in Europe and across the U.S. have turned to the concept of a pop-up city as a new way to look at urban growth and redevelopment.

Some of these ideas that lead to an overall paradigm shift are:
-looking to build buildings without considering perpetuity. Can buildings be made well, and deconstructed easily and reassembled into something new without loss of energy invested and without compromising building materials.
-this design without intentions of perpetuity, like buildings being made with the conscious acceptance that one day it will be useless where it is and as it is built..and that flexibility is now provided by easy deconstruction.
-shedding light on a less-trafficked portion of an urban area by putting on installments and organizing events so that people come into an area, see potential for change, and then act on it by seeing a preview.

Check a link out:

Here's Terry Schwarz bein' cool and smart:

Blogs-to-come will be me looking at the general pop up city site and seeing how we could use this stuff in Cleveland.

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